Way Back When!
by darksideofnight
Summary: Who knew human death culture could affect Death the Kid? The pistol trio travel to Greece, and Kid is acting a little strange, but it isn't until Ireland that they get worried... KidxLiz if you want to read it like that


A/N: You'll have to forgive any discrepancies, but I tried my best to be accurate with this fic's historical aspects. I'll explain the respective culture references at the end of the one shot, so if it confuses you, not to worry!

Death was not just one being. Every culture, almost every country had their own being representation of the end of life, the Celtics, the Greeks, the Egyptians, along with almost every pagan religion. They were all different. Most of these cultures were long extinct, swept away by both time and the popularity of Christianity, but much of their influence still remained.

Liz first contemplated this on a trip to South Eastern Europe, awfully close to the Greek peninsula, when she noticed that her meister was acting a bit odd. He had taken on a relaxed position, and though his face normally held a neutral (if slightly smirking,) expression while he rode Beezlebub, he seemed a bit too relaxed now. Still in her gun form, she and Patty exchanged a curious look in the dark space they shared while in weapon form.

"Kid, what's up?" Liz asked brightly, figuring it wouldn't do to sound upset if the young Shinigami really was just cheerful. He gave her a strange look.

"What do you mean?" He replied, now showing his calm mask. Patty gave him a pouting look, reflected in the side of her pistol form.

"You were acting all…happy!" Happy wasn't quite the word Patty had wanted, but it was too late to change her words now, anyway. He just shrugged, for once forgetting to keep his perfect posture.

"I don't know…I just started feeling pretty calm once we'd been out for a while. It's nothing." Both sisters shrugged in response, figuring that they didn't want to bother him for being in a good mood, because that would just be dumb.

The real thing which surprised Liz was his silence during the fight with the Kishin. Usually, he declared the evil of the soul of the egg to belong to him, like most meisters did, but he simply shoved them both into the soft flesh under the kishins's belly and pulled their triggers, not saying a word the entire time. No declaration of evil. No _judgment._ It was quite odd. Usually he did not hesitate to condemn any Kishin, because they were, well, _evil._ Even the most merciful of people would agree on that. It was strange to her, and it was the first time she began to think that there might be another factor tied into her meister's moodiness.

Other times, he became overly aggressive in certain battles. Even the battles which had nothing to do with symmetry. One such example was in Ireland, when a Kishin egg was attacking around alleyways in Dublin. Even after she was almost certain it was down for the count, he brutalized the monster with more violent kicks and punches and shots than she could count. It was just plain odd. Much more concerning than his previous silence in Greece had been.

"Kid, do you think you might be over doing it a bit?" She asked weakly as he beat a final blow into the body which had barely been twitching for the past five minutes. He gave her another confused look.

"What do you mean? I'm just fighting it."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that if you stepped away, the soul would come out already. I'm almost 100 percent certain that the thing is dead." He looked down at the body of the Kishin, as though seeing it for the first time.

"Yeah…I guess you're right." He stepped away from the now dissolving body and wiped a few flecks of blood of off his hands, thankfully none had reached up his sleeves, so he didn't have to worry about symmetry. She exchanged a concerned look with Patty. Though he had hidden it well, both had managed to spot the tiny hint of surprise that had sparked in his eyes when he'd seen the mutilated Kishin. It was worrisome, but given his tight lipped explanations thus far, they both didn't think they'd get anything more out of him.

"Shinigami-sama, we wanted to talk to you about Kid." The Thompson sisters were in the Death room; their meister had already left, presumably to reorganize the mansion. Lord Death gave them a curious look.

"What about him?"

"Well, on that last mission of ours, he was acting really strange…" Liz recounted the end of the fight to the older Shinigami, who listened intently. Patty nodded when her sister was done.

"And in Greece, too! He started acting all…serene! That's it! Serene!" She gave a bright smile. And Shinigami raised a hand to his mask in a thinking posture, when he suddenly raised a single finger to announce his idea.

"I think I've got it!" He hid his gloved hands again before continuing. "You know how all these cultures had different death gods in them?" They both nodded, only vaguely following him, as they hadn't really attended much school in Brooklyn. "Well, Kid's pretty young, so my theory is that these cultures influence him a little bit, so little that even he doesn't even notice it! Even way back when, when those cultures were still pretty new, that would happen a little bit to me!"

"Really?" Patty laughed. "That's pretty funny!"

"Yeah, but I'm pretty certain it's nothing to worry about, as long as it doesn't persist or anything." Liz nodded thoughtfully, jotting down a mental note to do a little Wikipedia research later. It could be useful to know about other cultures, apparently.

"Thanks, Shinigami-sama!" They turned and walked back down the guillotine hall, assured now that their meister was not going crazy, they could return home, and possibly clue Kid into this little thing of his. But maybe not…depending on their destination, couldn't this be a tad bit entertaining? Patty giggled at the prospect, and Liz could not hide the mischievous grin which came to her lips.

A/N: Sorry if you didn't like the ending…I know it was a little lame…anyway; the Greek god is Thanatos, who was a guide for the dead, but never a judge, because that was the specific job of the three judges in the underworld, which is where the 'no judgment' think comes in. Sorry if that's a stretch, but I thought it would work, since the Greeks are supposed to have a bit more gentle gods than the Romans, anyway… The Celtic (Irish) goddess I talked about was Morrigan, who is the triple goddess of war and death. She's pretty hardcore and kickass, which is where the increased aggression thing came into play, being a goddess of war, and all. Please review! I would love that!


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